1:01 pm, March 15, 2023
Plans have been lodged to build a Tesla dealership north-west of Cambridge.
If approved by South Cambridgeshire District Council, the showroom will go up on an industrial estate on land in Bar Hill owned by Legal and General, with the aim of opening it in 2024, according to the Cambridge Independent.
The Saxon Way development would see Bridge House knocked down to be replaced by the EV showroom as well as service areas, reported Cambridgeshire Live.
There would be 99 parking spaces and 60 cycle slots plus 12 supercharging spaces on the two-storey, 3.71-acre site.
Legal and General (Pension Management) Ltd said it’d be a ‘high-quality commercial scheme’, creating jobs.
Cambridgeshire Live quoted the application as saying: ‘The proposal presents a unique opportunity for Tesla to better serve the Cambridge market, given the current lack of available sites within the Cambridge automotive market and the high demand in the area.
‘Tesla service centres provide the opportunity to buy, service and charge electric vehicles and supercharging points.
‘Such centres promote and facilitate the transition towards zero-emission vehicles and clearly align with government targets on improvements to air quality and climate change mitigation.’
A parish council meeting in January had Tesla representatives present, with a public consultation held at Bar Hill Church Centre, and the Cambridge Independent quoted Bar Hill resident the Rev Anthony Mitchell as saying the community’s reaction to the plan was ‘surprisingly positive’.
He was also quoted as saying: ‘There were concerns that were raised during the open forum about traffic, because obviously we’ve had tailbacks on that road before.
‘But Legal and General said that the cars would be timed, so they’d be booked into slots, so you wouldn’t end up with a situation in the morning with all the cars turning up to be repaired.
‘Another resident was concerned about jobs for the local community, and they said that they would try and hire locally where possible.’
Pictured is an artist’s impression of how the Bar Hill Tesla dealership might look. Image: Legal and General (Pension Management) Ltd
